One of the most common worries we hear, especially from people in their 20s and 30s, is what happens if you blink or your eye moves while the laser is running. Here are the short, honest answers.
What happens if I move my eye during laser eye surgery?
Small eye movements are expected and accounted for. If your eye drifts beyond the safe range, the laser pauses automatically, waits until your eye is back in position, then resumes exactly where it left off. The system is designed to stop treatment if alignment moves outside the safe tracking range, so a flinch costs you a second or two, not your result.
Can I blink during the procedure?
No. A small device called a lid speculum holds your eyelids open, and numbing drops make the eye comfortable and reduce the blink reflex. You simply rest your gaze on a soft fixation light while the surgeon talks you through each step.
Doesn’t my eye need to stay perfectly still?
It cannot, and it does not need to. Even when you stare at a fixed point, your eye makes constant tiny movements called microsaccades. This is completely normal, and the tracking system is built specifically to follow that involuntary motion, hundreds of times during your treatment.
How does the eye tracker keep up?
An infrared camera locks onto landmarks like your pupil and iris and rechecks your eye’s position 1,050 times every second on the SCHWIND AMARIS 1050RS excimer laser we use, roughly a 1,050 Hz refresh rate pointed at your eye. It even predicts where your eye will be a millisecond ahead, so each pulse meets your eye exactly where it is.
What is “7D” eye tracking?
It means the system corrects for seven kinds of movement at once:
- Side to side (horizontal)
- Up and down (vertical)
- Closer or further away (depth)
- Rolling sideways
- Rolling up and down
- Cyclotorsion (the eye rotating around its own line of sight)
- Time (predicting movement between the camera reading and the laser pulse)
Cyclotorsion is the important one: your eye rotates slightly when you lie down versus when you were measured sitting up, and correcting for it keeps astigmatism treated on exactly the right axis.
Is tracking different for SmartSight and LASIK?
Yes, because the mechanics of the two procedures are different, but both procedures have built-in movement control and surgeon-supervised safety systems.
During LASIK: There are two phases. First, the SCHWIND ATOS gently docks to your eye to create a precise protective flap (where large movements are physically restricted). Then, during the reshaping step, your eye is free, and the AMARIS laser’s high-speed 7D tracker takes complete control.
During SmartSight NOVA: This advanced procedure uses only the SCHWIND ATOS laser. Your eye is gently docked for the entire treatment phase while the laser creates a precise, microscopic keyhole lenticule. The ATOS has its own highly sophisticated, intelligent eye tracking and cyclotorsion control built right in, meaning your eye is gently stabilised and aligned, with ATOS tracking, centration and cyclotorsion compensation supporting precise treatment.
The bottom line
You do not need to worry that a blink, twitch or small eye movement will ruin the procedure because the whole system is designed around the fact that eyes move. Lions Laser Vision was the first centre in Australia with the SCHWIND ATOS and the first in Western Australia with the AMARIS 1050RS.
Book a free suitability assessment at lionslaservision.com.au/suitability-test or call (08) 9381 0758.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for general educational purposes and does not constitute medical advice. All surgical procedures carry risks, and individual outcomes vary. Please consult your ophthalmologist for personalised advice.
